Abandonment
by SlippedLips
Summary: [AU] Anna Marie and Katherine Howlett are half-sisters haunted by their mother's betrayal. There's not a day gone by when their thoughts, subconscious or not, don't lead back to it. But can Anna learn to trust people properly again? Can Katherine learn that honesty is as much of a gift as other qualities that she will undoubtedly inherit?
1. Chapter 1

**All copyright to the rightful owners of the **_X-Men_** characters, etc. I own nothing but the storyline. Please feedback, otherwise I don't know how I'm doing. :) Cheers! **

**P.S. This is my first **_X-Men_** story! It's an AU of the movie and **_X-Men: Evolution_**. Don't judge too harshly ;) okay? Ciao!**

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characters

Abandonment

"Drink Night"

Chapter 1

Scrubbing her soaking-wet hair with her damp towel as she walked downstairs, Anna didn't look the least bit concerned about the fact that her step-father's friend was soon to arrive shortly. Instead, she kind of hoped that John might cancel on him. Even though her father needed somebody—a male somebody—there for him, seeing as her mother walked out not long ago, she didn't think dwelling in the same house he shared with her was going to do much good in helping him heal. However, that choice was up to Logan, not her, and he decided he'd heal faster if he stayed at home in the evenings.

Unsurprising to say that meant Friday night was now spent in the garage or kitchen, just him and his work colleague, John Wraith. The two men went back a Hell long way, so far that Anna probably wouldn't have even been in Fellwoods when they first met.

She settled herself down on the sofa and began flicking through the channels to see what was on, or the next-best-thing anyway. Nothing much was on, so she was debating whether to watch a rerun of _The Big Bang Theory _or a rerun of _Don't Tell the Bride_; she chose _The Big Bang Theory_, seeing as she didn't want for Logan to walk in at any given moment and see her watching one of her favourite programmes. That wouldn't help her tough-cookie image much.

She left her towel draped over her shoulders, and her damp hair spiralling onto it. Pearls of water slid down her cheeks, but she easily wiped them away. At one time, she did that and laughed at the exact same time that Sheldon chucked Penny a chocolate after having previously discussed with Leonard the brilliance of operant-conditioning a person, a sentiment which Leonard did not agree with.

Then there was knocking at the door.

"Comin'!" she called, getting up from her spot on the sofa. Anna knew better than to rush to the front door, because she knew it would only be John, just like every other Friday night. When she opened it, he gave her a lopsided smile. "Hey ya. Logan's probably out in the garage, John. But he'll be over in a sec. Come in and sit down." She stepped aside to let him in.

He bowed his head politely, muttering a "thank you, Anna" as he passed. Anna shut the door after him.

"Everythin' been well with you, John?" she asked as she turned the key in the lock.

John nodded from behind her, looking down the hall. "Yeah, it's been all right, I guess. Work's getting busy, but there ain't nothing I can do 'bout that."

"I hear you," muttered Anna, turning and facing him. John chuckled, flashing her another boyish grin. "God, the way school's goin' … I think I might just pack up and go in the future."

"I hear you, girl," murmured John distractedly. He looked back at her just then and pointed down the hall. "It alright if I sit in the kitchen?"

"Knock yourself out," replied Anna with a shrug. She didn't mind if he wanted to sit in the kitchen or living room, as long as it wasn't inappropriate. Logan would kill either him or her, then.

"You don't mean that really, do you?"

Anna laughed and smiled alongside him as she followed him to the kitchen. "God, I could never forget that cheek of yours. No wonder you and Logan get on so well – you've got an identical humour."

"You know what they say," shrugged John, smiling. "Like two peas in a pod. That's what your old man and I are like. No such thing as a downer, always an upside to something. Anything, you name it, and we'll find something good to say 'bout it."

At that particular moment, Logan stepped into the kitchen through the back door and heard only part of what John had been saying. "What on God's given Earth are you talking about, Wraith?" he said gruffly, shrugging his jacket off. "There ain't nothing good about the scum on some of these streets, and you know it. Thought working on them you might have picked something like that up." Even though Logan sounded rather serious, he was grinning slightly. "When did you get here, John?"

"Just a moment ago," said John, clasping Logan's outstretched hand. He was grinning back at him. "I was just talking to Anna about us two, you know. We always have an upside to things and all that." he added, nudging Logan gently in the abdomen.

"Oh, right," Logan didn't look too convinced about there being an 'upside' to things. His expression made Anna smirk slightly. "Annie," She looked up at him; she saw that flash of mischief in his eyes. "Guess I forget to tell you – the only upside to all situations is that you're not dead. Unless you are, but then you shouldn't have any situation. Understood?"

"Crystal," answered Anna, smiling.

She and Logan both laughed as John went on to say that Logan wasn't right in what he said and what he meant to say to her was supposed to be something or rather, Anna wasn't listening. She was too engrossed in what their friendship must be like. Considering her friends at school, Risty and Tabby, were great and everything, and that they always had a laugh together, she had never felt a pull of closeness to them. It was like they were always distant to her somehow. It was kind of saddening to think of it like that, but it was the truth.

"Anna," started Logan, looking at her with curiosity. She realised she must have been daydreaming, as John was peering at her with the same expression. "You awake, darlin'?"

"Huh? Err, yeah, um … sorry 'bout that. I ain't asleep on my feet, Logan, so if you don't mind …" Anna gestured at his hand firmly holding her shoulder to make sure she didn't fall and hit her head. He let go of her after she signalled him to do so.

"Got much homework to do, kid?"

"I've done it. And I'm not a kid."

"Sure. And I'm a sabre-toothed tiger from the dinosaurs' age." Logan sarcastically remarked, rolling his eyes while gulping back a mouthful of beer, straight from the can no less.

"You know," John said, before Anna could comment back, "that could be true. The parenting methods you use _are_ that old."

Anna burst out laughing as Logan half-scowled at John and half-smirked. "I don't know if I should be bloody impressed with you or pissed, John." Logan said, now choosing to smirk instead of frown. "Maybe I should just thump you now."

John shrugged calmly. "Believe me," he chuckled, grinning from ear-to-ear at Logan, "I know you could do worse."

"You wanna bet?"

"No thanks, I have some value on my own life." John answered, shaking his head a little. But he wasn't doing that because he disagreed with Logan; on the contrary, it was because he knew that Logan probably would act if invited to. John wasn't going to test that theory, though.

Whether she realised it or not, Anna couldn't help but wonder if Logan really thought of her as a daughter or a mere close friend. He'd told the guys he worked with that she was his, although she actually wasn't, but at times that didn't seem like the kind of relationship they had; she'd seen him with Kitty when they were younger, he attended every violin lesson with her, watched all her school plays, was there whenever she needed him … But he wasn't like that for Anna.

Sure, he always acted like a good friend, a reliable, and as constant as he could be, figure in her life, but he didn't treat her the same as he treated Kitty. She didn't realise so much when she was growing up because she knew that he wasn't her father and she couldn't expected Logan and her mother's marriage to last as long as it did. But he always seemed adamant that by calling himself her father, he was happy. Was he, though? Or did he just do it out of duty? She wasn't certain.

Her thoughts seemed to go unnoticed by both men. Logan and John often bantered and bickered when they were together, work or not. They acted like children in a playground, as Anna seemed to always put it. Thinking of children and childhood ... She missed the South. The warmth, the Mississippi river, everything: it was her home, and she wanted to head back there some time. Perhaps she could after high school finished.

"So, Annie," Logan addressed her as she came out of her thoughts, "where's Kitty this evening? Has she already headed down to Jubilee's place?"

Anna nodded. "Yeah, she went about an hour after coming home. She'll be back tomorrow." she answered quietly, taking a sip of water from a glass she was sure Logan had served to her without her realising. "Thanks," she added, indicating the glass.

Logan smiled fondly at her. "Don't mention it, kid."

"I ain't a kid."

Chuckling, John stepped in. "Logan, tell me – are you always gonna belittle your girls? You still treat Kitty-Kat like she's some kind of thirteen year old instead of sixteen. And we both know Anna ain't a few months shy of 'coming eighteen." he said evenly, looking directly at Logan, who simply shrugged his shoulders whilst frowning. John held eye contact with him briefly before sighing and making a simple, defeated gesture with his hands. "Just saying, is all."

Logan looked over the top of John's head, sneaking a peek at Anna before looking back at the other man. "It's all right, John. Anna knows I only call her that because it gets me a response. Don't you, Anna?"

"Sure," Anna replied absently.

John snickered. "She doesn't sound that sure, old man. Perhaps you ought to—"

"Be quiet," muttered Logan roughly, moving over to the sink and placing his beer bottle on the windowsill. "So, John, what's been eating at Zero? You know anything?"

John shook his head, "Sorry, man. Zero ain't telling a soul about his personal life at the moment. I think there's pressure somewhere, but we both know Zero ain't the kind to admit he needs help."

"Mm," Logan returned, looking weary and yet hard-faced at the same time. "Is that so?" he murmured. Anna knew that tone – she knew Logan suspected something more, but he wouldn't voice his suspicions. He never did until the last moment.

"Yep, he and Victor—" (John's eyes flashed over Logan's facial expression before resuming) "—were close buddies. Not close enough, though. Ever since the guy dropped him—" (Again, John briskly risked a peek at Logan to see his reactions; the man had a tortured and furious look in his eyes every time John mentioned Victor) "—he's hated him. Zero ain't the type who forgives, is he?

"Now, I think he's requesting not to have a partner anymore. Stryker's getting real mad with him about it, too. Just the other day, I heard Stryker yelling the Hell at Zero in his office." John shook his head. "Zero ain't gonna want anybody soon."

"I'm surprised he's still in the force," commented Logan, newly calm like John hadn't mentioned Victor in the last few minutes at all. "Zero isn't exactly the star copper, is he? Half the time I don't know what goes through his head. The man gets ticked off by every little thing that moves."

"Kind of like you, then, huh?" came John's smart reply.

He smirked at Logan, who gave him a gruff half-smile. Anna pursed her lips and tried not to smile. "Watch it, John. I just might hit you soon." Logan warned playfully.

John snorted, laughing. "What, and give me a black eye? What'd you say to Stryker, then? "Sorry, Boss, John drank too much and I gave him a punch 'cause he got on my nerves"? Logan, we both know Stryker's practically got it in for you as it is. Don't go giving him reasons to get you fired off the squad."

"Like he hasn't already got reasons," grumbled Logan, opening himself another bottle of beer.

John rolled his eyes, Anna watched as he spoke seriously to Logan. "You know the guy's screwed-up, man. Who the Hell still believes in capital and corporal punishment? Only the folks of Medieval England! Look at what he did to his son—"

At the precise moment, Logan nudged John hard and his eyes flickered to Anna's expression; she looked confused and suspicious. "Be careful, John. Don't wanna go pissing off Stryker like me, do you?" he muttered to John, although Anna still heard him.

Why'd he shut John up like that? She wondered. Was it meant to be something that even they weren't meant to know or something? Anna could have pressed them for answers, but she knew better. It could very well cost Logan his job if he told her something he shouldn't have. Talking of which …

"Hey, John," called Anna, breaking the silence. John looked at her inquisitively. "Got any female officers workin' for you yet?"

"Um," John paused, taken aback. It was a drastic change in conversation – from the hideous form of Stryker to one of John's old favourites: women. "Well, we still got Polly" (the police station's parrot) "and Paula working the reception. Frankie's down in the call centre, and I think Josie's working in Seattle now."

"Seattle?" repeated Anna, with her eyebrows raised. "Wow. That's a big change of scene, ain't it?"

"S'pose that's why she went—"

"Shouldn't you be in bed, kid?" Logan interrupted. He was looking at the ticking white and black clock that hung on the kitchen wall, just above the breakfast bar behind Anna. "It's nearly eleven."

"It's a Friday," Anna pointed out, frowning at him. She'd placed one hand on her hip and was holding her glass of water with the other. "I'm allowed to stay up late."

"And as the adult, I don't allow it. Now, scram. Get up those stairs, or I'll take you myself." Logan answered back, frowning at her in return.

Anna scoffed. "Like you could lift me."

"Is that a challenge?"

Knowing where this was probably going to lead, John turned to Anna and murmured, "Look, you know what they say – live to fight another day. Do what he says and give him Hell in the morning. Don't bother getting into a fight for the sake of fighting. 'Kay?"

Anna scoffed, and then she turned on her heel. "Whatever. 'Night, John. Don't choke on your beer, Logan."

"Ha, ha, very funny." retorted Logan sardonically, watching as Anna disappeared from view as she walked out of the kitchen. "Don't let the bedbugs bite while you sleep, Anna!"

"I'd rather bedbugs than your fleas!" she shot back. John tried very hard not to snigger. Anna could really be bang-on the mark sometimes. Logan looked at the kitchen doorway, a disgruntled expression on his face. "'Night!" Anna shouted down one last time.

"'Night!" chorused John and Logan weakly.

John started chuckling. Logan turned to him. "What're you laughing your arse off about?" he asked moodily.

"How'd you do it?"

"Do what?" asked Logan, his brow knitting together.

"I dunno. Just …" John straightened up and looked squarely at Logan, a faint smile touching his lips. "The both of them—Anna and Kitty—they're a lot like you. Both won't take something they don't like, know to do what they want and not what someone else tells them to do … Most guys I know have a problem with their girls. You don't."

Logan shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted, sipping his beer. "I make sure they know I'm here. That's all, I suppose."

"Hmm," John nodded once and took a gulp of his beer. "Guess so."

A few minutes passed as a simple and comfortable silence settled between them; neither were alarmed or freaked out by the lack of words that hung in the air. They liked it. Sometimes, with a man like John Wraith as his friend, Logan found that life could actually be a little peaceful. Their bantering aside, they were more alike than either of them would like to admit. In that sense, it's why they were friends. They understood the silence questions that one might leave unspoken, and they knew that they could always be open and no judged by the other.

"Raven hasn't called, has she?" John asked quietly, after some more silent minutes passed them by.

Sighing heavily, Logan shook his head. "No," he mumbled. There was a numb feeling in his chest. "Not since she left."

"You don't want her to, right?"

Logan didn't answer, and he knew that he didn't have to either. John understood automatically; Logan didn't want to know Raven, or even see her every again, after what she did to him and the girls.


	2. Chapter 2

"Thinking of It"

Chapter 2

When she came down in the morning, Logan was sat at the breakfast bar with a steaming cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. He was frowning.

"What's wrong, sugar?" Anna asked, passing him and putting two slices of bread into the toaster and then switching the kettle on to do herself tea.

"Some git's gone and stolen some priceless jewel. Probably just another idiot looking to sell it on the black market. Another reason you're not going to New York." grumbled Logan dismissively. Anna chuckled at his last comment. "I'm serious."

"I know you are," replied Anna calmly, hearing the kettle's switch turn off, as it reached its boiling point; it was presumably still hot from when Logan boiled the water inside it. She poured the piping-hot water into her cup with the tea in and went to fetch the milk from the fridge after putting the kettle down. "Kitty not back yet?" She was just making tête-à-tête now.

"I didn't hear the door open earlier. Probably fallen asleep around one again, you know what she's like." Logan muttered, reading his newspaper intently.

"Mm," mumbled Anna, stirring her cup of tea. The milk was already back in the fridge. "Imagine when you take her for her first drink at Harry's place. She'll probably pass out after about three."

Logan chuckled. "That's rather mean. I reckon around three and quarter." That made Anna laugh. At the same time, the toaster binged and her toast was done. "Guess I'll be taking you soon. You've got about nine months left, right?"

"Less, actually," corrected Anna, already having taken her toast out of the toaster, she was spreading butter on them. "Seventh of October, remember? We've got the summer to go through first. And that means Kitty's and your birthdays are first."

"Believe me, Anna, when you get to a certain age, you don't _want _to remember how old you are," muttered Logan, making Anna laugh.

"Oh, come on!" Anna smiled at him, even though he wasn't looking at her. "It can't be that bad."

"Do you wanna swap and find out?" asked Logan gruffly, frowning at his newspaper. He didn't strictly like the article he was reading. "That's stupid!" he exclaimed, voicing his thoughts aloud. Anna merely raised an eyebrow.

"Which wag is it now?" she asked in a bored voice.

"Some stupid footballer gone and hooked up with a prostitute then is whining about his fiancée walking out on him! It was his own fault!"

"I never took you to be a gossip-lover," Anna muttered dryly, frowning. "Too bad that Kitty's not here, she'd love to see you like this. Shame she missed it." She was mostly talking to herself, but kept a loud voice in attempt to piss Logan off some more. She hadn't forgotten about last night, by no means. She was still irked about him sending her off to bed.

"Keep talking to yourself like that and I'm gonna have to book you in to see the shrink," retorted Logan, not looking at her.

Anna rolled her eyes. She chose not to rise to that one, there was hardly any point. Instead, she took a bite out of her toast and sat down on the other stool at the breakfast bar. She glanced at Logan's paper a few times, but then just concentrated on what she needed to do today. She had a little bit of homework from Dr. McCoy and some from Ms. Munroe, but that was all. Science and History, but those were two of her best subjects, so she would be fine with them.

"Penny for your thoughts," commented Logan quietly, staring at her from the corner of his eye. Anna looked at him, confused slightly. "It's an old saying. My father used to say it to me."

"Oh," Anna looked away and then sipped her tea. "My aunt Irene used to say somethin' like that, as well. She'd say 'a minute's like a dime' or somethin' like it. 'You can lose it, or you can use it'."

Logan smiled faintly. "Yeah, well, Irene always was the sensible one, wasn't she?" he murmured, taking a mouthful of his coffee before clunking his cup back onto the counter. It stayed quiet for a minute, each absorbed in their own train of thought. Then Anna broke the silence.

"What'd you see in her?"

She'd asked rather quietly, but to Logan, it felt like she'd shouted at him. He seemed to become distant as he answered, Anna noticed. "I don't know. She seemed to be so kind … I don't know. I don't think I can describe it. I know, though, that you barely understood why I put up with it most of the time – am I right?"

Anna gave him an apologetic look.

Ruefully, Logan smiled at her, taking her small hand in his own big one. He was being reassuring. "Don't feel bad about it. John never does." he told her.

She smiled weakly. "But that's John, though. I'm not him, Logan."

His hand lingered on hers for a moment longer. "I know, kid," He took his hand away. "I know." He pushed himself away from the bar and made to walk out the kitchen, leaving the newspaper on the counter. "See you later." And he walked out. Gone to get to work on time and not give Stryker another reason to hate him.

* * *

Rays of golden sunlight sidled into her bedroom, casting brightness to scare away the shadows that had lurked there in the night. The white voiles that hung in front of the doors leading to her porch-like balcony fluttered in the breeze, as the doors were open, and dream-catcher that was tied onto a corner of her dressing table mirror quivered slightly. The light breeze also slipped through both of her open windows and whispered to her ivory-blue patterned curtains.

Three of the four walls were painted a light sky-blue colour, and the last one—being a feature wall—was painted a pale candy-pink, with a large canvas picture of a cascading waterfall hanging on the wall, directly in the centre above her four-poster bed. Beside her bedroom door was her small walk-in closet, the woodwork of it painted a glossy white, as was her dressing table which was opposite her bed, and all around her room were either canvas pictures or pictures of her friends and family. Three metal butterfly pieces hung beside her balcony doors, and a bedside cabinet sat dutifully beside her bed.

Anna herself was not in her bedroom. Instead, she was seated outside on the wicker loveseat (which had a cream cushion on top for comfort purposes) by herself, watching over the town. She loved her bedroom, mainly because it was situated at the front of the house and she could get a brilliant view of the whole town, as they were practically living at the top of the town and looking down to the port from the near-top of the hill.

Kitty still hadn't come back from her sleepover with Jubilee, but Anna wasn't concerned. Kitty was sixteen and Anna had been doing much worse at that age, whether Logan knew it or not. As long as Kitty wasn't taking drugs, smoking or partying too hard, Anna wasn't going to snitch on her.

Lying open to the left side of her on the floor was her History book. She'd pretty much completed her assignment and wasn't too bothered about starting on Dr. McCoy's science essay until later on. While she may be ecstatic she didn't have Dr. Grey, she didn't exactly enjoy learning the pros and cons of evolution and Darwin and so-and-so's theories of it. It was completely boring and not outstandingly useful for her, she wasn't going to have to use it when she became … well, she didn't know what yet. But the point of the matter was that she wasn't going to be teaching science, so she shouldn't need to know the ins and outs of human evolution.

From the distance, she could see some kind of ship sail into port. It looked like a big one, possibly an oil carrier. They often came round to Fellwoods to load their lorries and set off to God knows where. It was a lucky thing that they hadn't spilt any of the oil into the sea yet.

She sighed, blowing at her fringe when it got in her eyes again. She needed to have it cut soon. Sweeping the brown strands aside to gaze at the bay, Anna thought about whether she should decide staying in Fellwoods after high school or go back to Mississippi after all. If she went, then it meant she would have to leave her family behind. But if she stayed, then would the feeling of being out of place learn to fade over time? She just didn't know.

It either would or it wouldn't; there wasn't a third answer.

_Clink._

She looked down at the front gates, which were opening, and saw Kitty stumbling up the drive. There were purple bags under her eyes and she looked completely wrecked. Anna guessed that the sleepover with Jubilee had been yet another wild one.

The metal gates crashed close after Kitty had walked right in, causing her to wince at the loud sound. Anna was right: Kitty was trashed.

She snickered to herself, recalling her earlier comment to Logan. She honestly didn't think Kitty would be able to hold her liquor for long. She just didn't seem the type. Anna knew she could already, mainly to having tried on previous nights-out with Risty and Tabby when they would all sneak into a night club. Risty's English accent fooled the bodyguards into thinking they were older than seventeen year olds, and the amount of makeup and darkness they had only helped their cause even more. The bouncers hardly ever cheeked to see if their IDs were flukes.

The IDs were courtesy of St. John Allerdyce, Anna's ex-boyfriend, of course. The guy knew everything about that kind of thing. Unsurprising, seeing as what the crowd he'd gotten into was like. It was all about the night life with _those _people.

Picking herself up from her loveseat, she walked back through her room and down the hallway, heading downstairs. She heard the quiet 'click' of the front door as Kitty unlocked it. Kitty then ambled in, her night bag slung over her shoulder and her eyes barely able to keep open. She didn't realise Anna was there until she started up the stairs.

"You want me to take that?" Anna offered, but Kitty shook her head.

"Nah, I'm fine. Just gonna sleep for, like, ever. 'Night." And with that, Anna let Kitty slide past and stumble to her own bedroom on the left-hand-side of the house. Anna briefly watched as Kitty rounded the corner and disappeared from her view.

For a few seconds, she wondered if that might have been what she looked like when she came home from having stayed out all night with Risty and Tabby (claiming it was a sleepover so Logan wouldn't ground her). At the end, however, she decided she probably looked worse, and she continued walking down the stairs. She headed to the living room, switching the TV on but keeping the volume as to not wake up Kitty. Picking what to watch was quite hard, considering there was never really anything outstanding on TV on a Saturday morning. In the end, she chose another rerun of _Don't Tell the Bride_.

* * *

Traipsing down the stairs as sunlight flooded in through the glass wall overlooking the large staircase, Logan missed the sound of calling his name. It was only when he was called a second time, did he turn around. He frowned at the man at the top of the stairs, loitering on the Level 2 landing.

"What do you want, Bradley?"

Chris Bradley, a weedy and thin-looking man, gave Logan a shaky smile and said, "There was a phone call for you down in the front reception."

Still, Logan didn't smile. "Yeah? And who was it?" he asked impatiently. He needed to get back out to the front; John was waiting in the cruiser for him. The whole point of being on _parole duty _was to actually _parole the streets _of the town.

"Um," Bradley faltered. "It was your daughter, Anna. She said that a kitten had come back or something. I could ask—"

Logan cut him off. "Don't bother." He waved a hand behind him as he began down the stairs again. "I'll ask Paula myself if I need to. Just get on with your job, Bradley. I know what Anna means." _She means Kitty's home_, thought Logan to himself as he jogged down the stairs. _John's gonna kill me for keeping him waiting now._

Coming near to the ground floor, Logan skipped the last few steps and jogged out of the station and to his cruiser where John was looking impatient.

"Man, where've you been?" he snapped as soon as Logan opened the door and climbed in.

"Sorry, John," Logan said, strapping himself in after shutting the door. "Bradley was telling me that Anna had called."

"You know what about?" said John, with a flick of his fingers he turned the indictor on and turned out of the parking space. He turned it off just after.

"Yeah. She phoned to tell me Kitty's home."

"You got Anna spying on Kitty, Logan?" asked John in disbelief, though he still manage to smile. "Maybe you are like a lot of other dads, after all." It was a reference to one of their later conversations last night, after Logan had sent Anna to bed early. He shook his head. "The shame of it!"

"To Hell with shame," muttered Logan. John chuckled heartily. "Fuck, who gives a damn when we live in a world like this?"

"You know, some people think you're little bias there," John remarked nonchalantly. He kept his eyes fixed on the road, like a good policeman would, while speaking. "Being a copper, you'd have seen a lot of stuff that other parents probably don't see on a day-to-day basis. Am I right?"

"Wrong," Like Hell, Logan would admit John was right over him. But John knew that, and he only smirked in response.

"So, how's the grilling coming?"

"What're you talking about now, John?" asked Logan dubiously, as they turned down around street, checking on the general public to see if anything that shouldn't be happening was indeed happening. Nothing seemed out of place.

"Your girl stayed out the night, sleepover or not, and didn't return 'til the morning gone? Surely, in your books, that's gotta have a punishment?" John stated, driving down the street calmly.

"As long as all she did was a sleepover with her friends that were girls, I don't mind what time she comes back as long as she does. Does that make sense?"

"Only in your mind," muttered John. Logan chuckled, shaking his head, whilst John smiled. "Yeah, it makes some logical sense, Logan. Girl sleepover, accepted. Boys included, all Hell's broken loose."

The pair of them laughed loudly as Logan playfully thumped John's upper arm, smiling. "You …" chuckled Logan, his laughter shimmering down as they approached the end of the street and turned right, onto Franklin Boulevard. "Jesus, John, what would I do without you?"

"My name ain't Jesus-John, and you know it."

Logan chuckled, as did John, but the amusement wore off quicker than the last time. Both men stayed focused as a few shifty-looking guys shoved their way out of Franklin's Public and began stumbling their way down the street. "Should we warn Zero?" Logan asked unsurely, frowning at the 'shifty-lookers', as he often referred to their kind.

"I think so. Make the call, Logan." agreed John, eyeing one of the men in particular. The guy John was eyeing was a former copper-turned-dirt-bag, Wade Wilson. No one liked a dirty cop, and the cops themselves hated dirt-bags who used to law to make personal profit.

Logan patched in to Zero about Wade and his usual group of weirdoes hanging around Franklin Boulevard, having just come out of Franklin's Public (not their usual pub) at around eleven past one. After giving the information over to Zero, and noticing they were merely going at 19 mph, Logan nudged John in the ribs.

"Huh? What'd you say?" John turned to him, looking like he'd just come out of some deep thoughts.

"I didn't say anything. You're going loopy," stated Logan, smirking.

John rolled his eyes, smiling. "Ha, ha. Very funny, Logan." And that made Logan laugh even more, which in turn made John laugh. "Now, seriously, what'd you say?"

"I hadn't said anything back then, but I have just finished filling Zero in. You ready to take the handbrake off, Grandma?" taunted Logan, grinning like a cheesy idiot.

It was then that John noticed the speed he was going. "I ain't that old yet, Logan. Just deep in thought, is all." John countered, speeding up as they continued their parole. Logan merely scoffed. "And besides, you're older than me."

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**Thank you so much, **_ScruffyLovin_**, for your review! :D I've written up to chapter 19 and as far as I see it, Logan isn't gonna turn into a shitty dad any time soon! :) **


	3. Chapter 3

"Ice and Fire"

Chapter 3

Evening rolled in, along with a twilight haze, and soon the house was using its lights to see. Kitty had practically become near enough to nocturnal, as she only ventured out of her bedroom when dinner was done at seven. Being February, they were lucky it hadn't snowed yet. With ice sheathing the roads, life could be a Hell lot more dangerous than usual. That and the house would be colder in the mornings.

Anna had just finished plating up when Kitty shyly crept into the kitchen. Logan, who was sitting at the breakfast bar at the time, smiled at her faintly. "You all right, Kitten?" he called over to her.

Kitty nodded, yawning, and stretched her arms above her head; she was too tired to even tell Logan not to call her Kitten. When Anna placed her food in front of her, she merely muttered a "thank you" and began slowly eating. Normally, Anna cooked southern meals, but occasionally she cooked normal northern ones too. Hailing from Mississippi as a birthplace, she wanted to be proud of it.

Logan thanked Anna when she handed him his and they all ate in silence. After dinner, Anna washed up and Kitty returned to her room while Logan flicked through the channels on the TV. After washing up all the plates and stuff, Anna went upstairs to pay Kitty a visit. She knocked softly on the door once.

"Come in," croaked Kitty weakly.

Anna pushed the door open and peered inside. Snuggled underneath her duvet, Kitty looked nearly ten years younger, reminding Anna of a time when they used to share a bedroom together. Brushing off those thoughts, she sneaked inside and over to Kitty's bed, leaving the door just slightly ajar. She gave Kitty a soft smile. "What's up? Have a good time with Jubilee?"

Kitty smiled in a kind of aloft fashion, her tiredness showing through. "Yeah, it was great."

"What happened?" Anna pressed, settling herself next to Kitty.

At that show of interest, regardless of how tired she was, Kitty lurched into a detailed recap of her time with Jubilee the previous night and all of the mischief they'd gotten up to as well. "Well, first off, we had dinner—hot dogs and chips with tomato ketchup—and watched a few movies. We stayed up all night"—as if on cue, she yawned widely, making Anna grin—"and then Jubes's mum came in and told us that it was 'lights out' because it had gone twelve."

"Bet that didn't stop you," stated Anna, prompting Kitty, who grinned with her.

"Oh no. Like, heck! It's meant to be a sleepover! Since when have you heard of a sleepover with a bedtime? Seriously! Anyway, her mum left us with all these sweets—for watching the movies (before bed) and, well, just because …—and we decided that we'd played twenty-one dares and truth or dare all wrapped-up into one.

"So, we did that and Jubes ended up with most of the dares—you know, what with her 'dare me, dare me!' and all—anyway, she got most of the dares and this one time when I got a dare, she dared me to either flash my bra out the window or try and sneak downstairs to get us two packs of J2O. Guess which one I chose." She paused, looking excitedly at Anna as she thought.

"I'm gonna guess the latter." Anna had concluded it was the most likely thing Kitty would do. She knew she would probably do it too if given the situation.

Kitty nodded. "Yep! I snuck downstairs and her parents didn't even realise they had two packs of J2O missing in the morning! How cool is that?"

Anna feigned being impressed; Kitty didn't know even a tenth of what she, Risty and Tabby had gotten up to at her age. Thinking about it, it was only less than a year ago now since they last did it. Maybe they should try again. Anna's thoughts were cut off, however.

"—and then I dared her to either lap dance her chair or act like a dog. She chose to _lap dance _– can you believe it? Oh my God, I couldn't stop laughing! I was, like, totally hysterical! Jubes is so funny."

Anna suppressed the urge to butt in and say that she'd done worse than lap dance a chair. More like a real person.

"Then, at about half-two, Jubes sneaked Danielle and Rahne in. Oh my God, it was so funny!"

"What?" smiled Anna, acting like she'd paid attention the whole time when, in actuality, she hadn't, much to her own guilt.

"Roberto had followed them!"

The both of them burst out laughing wildly, Anna ended up clutching her side because of a stitch. Kitty was wiping tears out of her eyes when they neared the end of their short burst of laughter. "It …" Kitty was struggling to talk clearly, never mind coherently. "It was just … so funny! Roberto kept throwing stones at Jubes's window. She was furious! She kept … she thought he was trying to land her in trouble! She kept thinking her parents might see him outside … throwing pebbles … and think he was some kind of … Fellwoods Romeo!" Anna laughed even harder at that.

"_Oh my God!_" exclaimed Anna, hushing her voice to make sure Logan didn't hear. "What'd Jubilee do?"

Kitty was almost crying from laughter again. "She picked up this … I don't know, I think it was some Encyclopaedia … _and she chucked it right at him!_"

Their laughter was renewed and Anna felt herself start crying as well, not to mention her cheeks began to ache too. She honestly needed to calm down. Soon, they did calm down enough to talk without any fault.

"So," Kitty grinned at Anna. "What was it like when you did sleepovers at sixteen? I'm sure yours were better – you had Tabitha with you."

Anna flashed her a cheeky grin and titled her head to the right slightly. "Oh, they were wild, yes. Not in the sense of one of us throwing a chunk of a book out the window at a boy, but … you know, wild enough, I suppose."

A glint of curiosity got caught in Kitty's eyes. "What do you mean?" she cooed, smiling wickedly. Her grin widened. "_What did you do?_"

"More than you, that's for sure," laughed Anna, smiling at Kitty. "To be honest, we didn't sleep either, but we … well, we didn't …"

"Didn't what?" pressed Kitty. She pouted. "Oh, please, Anna! Tell me! Pretty, pretty, please!"

"All right, but don't tell Logan!" Anna gave her a stern look.

"Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die." Anna could have laughed when Kitty said that and did the actions as well. Just like a child.

"Fine," sighed Anna, a wicked playing on her lips. "Well, we never actually had sleepovers, it was just a cover-up for the whole thing." Kitty's eyes widened as she realised where this was leading. "We actually went to the night clubs and, um, got drunk a lot. Well, in Tabby's case anyway. I never got drunk that much, didn't trust anybody."

"What else?" breathed Kitty, in awe.

Anna blushed slightly. "Um," She wondered why Kitty seemed so star-struck by the confession. "We went to this gig once—a Skillet's one—and bought all this cool stuff."

"So, basically, back when you were all Goths and punks, then?" Kitty suggested, giggling when Anna pursed her lips at her.

"I wasn't a Goth!"

"You were too!"

"Was not!"

"Were too! I remember – I saw you!" accused Kitty jokingly, smiling and laughing. "Purple lips, blue lips, black lips – not tulips! Black eye, grey, blue and dark hues! White skin, pale skin, no-suntan-skin! Halter tops, leather—"

"I did _not_ wear leather!"

Kitty laughed. "—sheer dark tops, black skirts, green skirts, purple belts, silver chains – oh my God, what to say! Goth, Goth, Goth – she's a Goth, cough-cough!"

Anna merely raised an eyebrow. "You spent your time makin' a rhyme up about me, Kitty? How sad and lonely were you?"

"Hey!"

"What? You started it!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too! Look, I made a little rhyme up about you as well!" At that, the pair of them started laughing like the crazy Joker from the Batman adaptations. It took them almost as long as when Kitty was telling her story about her sleepover to get over the joke. Anna was coughing at the end of it, with Kitty patting her mildly on the back.

Laughter was laced with Kitty's smile as she asked Anna, "You didn't seriously make up a rhyme, did you?"

After one more cough, Anna answered, in a rather hoarse voice, "Not yet. I'm gonna have to start work on it, though, seein' as you've got one about me." Kitty giggled. "Ugh."

"What's wrong?"

"My lungs and cheeks hurt." Kitty laughed at her after she told her, to which merely half-frowned and half-smiled at her for. "Where's the concern for the big sister, eh? God, I make sure you're okay half the time and you don't return the favour!"

"I-I'm s-s-sorry!" wailed Kitty, nearly doubling over with laughter. Anna shook her head slightly as she watched, her smile still lingering on her lips. Kitty took quite a while to calm down, but she did eventually. Wiping one last tear from her eye, she sighed in bliss. Anna didn't dare speak in case it sent Kitty off again. Finally, Kitty was fully sane again. "So …" she started quietly.

"So?"

Softly smiling, Kitty gave her a coy look. "Do you fancy anyone, Anna? Anyone at all?" she asked in a small voice. She blushed when Anna's face lit up in a suspicious kind of happiness.

"Who is it?" murmured Anna softly, her green eyes suddenly glowing like a cat's who's caught in the middle of the road by an oncoming car. "Well? Is it Roberto de Costa?"

Realisation dawned across Kitty's face. "Roberto de—? _Eww! _No, _no_ – that's gross! He's Amara's boyfriend!" cried Kitty, flushing a marvellous shade of bubblegum pink. "Why would I? Bobby's much fitter and—" Kitty gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late.

The damage was done.

"_Bobby Drake!_" gasped Anna, putting her hands over her mouth in surprise. Her eyes were nearly the size of eggs. "_Bobby Dr_— oh, my God!"

"Don't tell Dad, please!" begged Kitty, clasping Anna's hands with her own. The pleading in her eyes was intense, Anna was lucky she'd already decided not to reveal to Logan that one of his son-in-laws was going to be Bobby Drake – the same Bobby who accidentally prank-called him instead of Kitty. Logan was still pissed off about that.

"No, don't worry, I won't," Anna somewhat vowed. She was still amazed she hadn't realised it earlier; it made perfect sense. Kitty often spent hours on the phone to Bobby, more so than she did with Jubilee or Amara. "Promise you, Kitty, I won't tell."

"Oh, thank you!" Kitty threw her arms around Anna, and for someone who was very tired, she had a very impressive grip. It reminded Anna of a vulture or a falcon. "Now," Kitty leaned away, but still secured her hands on Anna's shoulders, "who do you like?"

"Um …"

"Please! I told you!"

"I don't actually know," Anna summarised. Kitty frowned pointedly at her. "I'm bein' honest, I don't know. You already know I dated John. There hasn't been anyone else since then, really." She shrugged. "Guys are guys, they're pretty much all the same – they all think with their dicks and less with their heads." she added dryly, causing Kitty to somehow go into hysterics all over again. "What?"

"God! You're such a man-hater, Anna!"

Anna sighed, smiled weakly and said, "Goodnight, Kitty." Giving her a swift hug, then she walked out. She knew Kitty had a really bad case of sleep-deprivation, because she wouldn't stop laughing hysterically. In her normal state, she wasn't like that (much). Sure, she laughed a lot, but not over the kinds of things that she had been. On her way out, Anna switched off the light and whispered through the dark, "Night-night, Kitty-cat" before closing the door.

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Blink … blink … blink, blink …

She sighed.

Darkness enveloped the room, shrouding her with its vast black cloak and robbing her of her sense of sight. Yet, luckily for her, the voiles of her balcony doors were so thin and flimsy that the light from the moon simply shone through like the voiles were nothing but mere pieces of clear glass. With the moon's silver light, she saw that her bedroom door was ever-so-slightly ajar. She knew she hadn't left it like that, and so her first thoughts went to Logan. He'd probably checked on her whilst she slept.

She sighed again.

Time always seemed dead in the night. Nothing moved inside the house normally, but sometimes she would feel as though someone was watching, waiting to creep out of the shadows and frighten her.

She hugged her covers around her, then scorned herself for being childish. The fear of the dark was a childish fear, yet she had never gotten over it. She hated the stillness of the night, the lack of movement and noise. It unnerved her. Kitty didn't know that the dark scared her, but she suspected Logan might have figured it out. It wasn't like she slept with a nightlight or anything when she was young, because she didn't, but he always seemed to be good at noticing the smaller things about people.

She supposed that was down to being a policeman, he had to take in all the small details, the things that normal people missed. Then again, as she recalled that time when she was younger, when Kitty was still a toddler, when he—

"Anna?"

He made her jump back. He heard her mutter an "Ow!" as she hit her head against her headboard. He chuckled to himself quietly, so she wouldn't hear. "You okay in there, kid?"

"Fine … I'm fine. Just got a sore head now, no thanks to you!"

Even her moody comebacks seemed to amuse him. She was more like a younger version of himself than Kitty, and she wasn't even blood-related. "Come downstairs. I wanna talk with you." There was a light pause.

"I'm in trouble, ain't I?"

"You will be if you keep asking questions. Get up and come downstairs." Logan said quietly. The outline of Anna moved in the darkness, cursing. "Mind your language." he gently reprimanded, though he was more than certain she'd probably learnt it all from him.

"Says you, huh?"

He tapped her head as she passed him. "Stop acting smart, too. It doesn't suit you." he said as he followed her.

She didn't turn to face him as she answered, "What? So I should start acting like some dumb blonde bimbo that you usually find in a bar, whose only idea is that she wants to be a wag?"

"Is this the personal 'you' or the general 'you'?" asked Logan firstly.

"The general use of you," riposted Anna softly, stepping down the stairs with Logan behind her still. When she reached the bottom floor of the house, she turned and made her way to the kitchen. It was where they always had their adult conversations without Kitty interrupting. Like when her mother and Logan would while they slept. "Now," She turned and faced him, "why am I here?"

Logan went to the island in the middle of the kitchen and pushed a cup of tea over to her. She sipped it: perfect. She slid onto the stool Logan put next to her, at the same time Logan sat on his. His elbows propped him up as he leaned on the island's counter. "I've already told you, to talk. There's something I haven't told you … it's about your mother."

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**Hey, guys, thanks for the comments so far, **Guest**, **_Ebble_**and **_Raven34link_**. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and where the story is going to go. ;) Ciao.**


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